The number of referrals made to the borough’s domestic abuse outreach service has increased in the past year.

A total of 197 referrals were made between April 1 2013 and March 31 this year - 22 more than during the previous 12 months.

The majority of victims were women.

As well as helping adults who have been directly affected, Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council is one of only two local authorities in Leicestershire that is able to offer help to children who have witnessed such abuse.

The borough council has secured funding from the county’s Police and Crime Commissioner to pay for a dedicated children’s outreach worker who offers therapeutic support to youngsters who have found themselves in this position, at the same time as talking through the situation with the abused adult in question.

In the past year, 13 young people, aged from five to 18, were helped in this way.

The borough council works closely with Blaby District Council to provide an outreach team that also includes an externally-funded male support worker for male victims.

Maddy Shellard, the borough council’s neighbourhood and anti-social behaviour manager said: “We’re fortunate to have a children’s worker. It’s been quite postive and other local authorities are looking at doing similar work.

“In the past, it’s been about working with adult victims and the children have been kind of left behind.”

A spokesman for the outreach team said: “Some young people who witness abuse could go on to be a perpetrator of the same kind of abuse, or a victim, or some might not be affected at all.

“It’s all about early intervention to break the cycle.”

In the case of adult victims, outreach workers say psychological and emotional abuse can be as significant as physical violence and often takes longer to identify and to work through.

They urge anyone who believes they are a victim of abuse, or a friend or relative of someone who may be being abused, to get in touch and to get help.